Science Article
June
6, 2002
Prostate patients get conference at UW July 12; genitourinary meeting for doctors follows on July 13
The University of Washington School of Medicine hosts a pair of meetings on Friday and Saturday, July 12-13 - one for prostate-cancer patients and a genitourinary symposium for medical professionals.
The meetings at Kane Hall are chaired by Dr. Celestia Higano, associate professor of medicine and urology at the UW and a clinician at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and will include talks by physicians and researchers from Fred Hutchinson, the UW and other institutions. Sponsors are the UW, Oregon Health and Sciences University and the American Cancer Society.
The second annual Pacific Northwest Prostate Cancer Conference, set July 12, is intended for patients with prostate cancer, their family members, those at high risk for the disease and other interested members of the public.
The program will update the treatment of localized prostate cancer, medical management of advanced prostate cancer, complementary and alternative medicine in prostate cancer and new research approaches. The registration fee is $35, including course materials and a box lunch.
The second annual Pacific Northwest Genitourinary Symposium, on July 13, is geared to physicians and professionals who care for patients with genitourinary cancers including bladder cancer, testicular cancer and prostate cancer.
This accredited event will update treatment options for advanced genitourinary cancers, highlights of recent scientific progress and ongoing clinical trials. The registration fee is $165 for physicians, $95 for allied professionals and $50 for fellows. Grants are available for fellows.
The Northwest Division of the American Cancer Society will broadcast the prostate-cancer conference live, via satellite, to more than 50 downlink sites throughout Washington, Alaska, Oregon, and Montana.
Such audiences will view the conference live and be able to have their questions posed to the speakers by phone. For more information on communities in which the downlink sites will be located, call 1-800-729-1151, press 3 on the menu, then dial Ext. 3307, or e-mail deb.schiro@cancer.org.
To register or obtain more information on the July 12 and 13 meetings, call 206-543-9496 or e-mail cme@u.washington.edu.
Six Alliance labs win accreditation from American Pathologists college
Six clinical laboratories at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance outpatient clinic recently received accreditation by the College of American Pathologists (CAP), a professional association that inspects medical laboratories for performance standards.
Facilities that underwent inspection included the Alliance Lab, which conducts blood draws, chemistry, hematology and urinalysis, as well as Pathology, Cellular Therapy, Cytogenetics, Pharmacokinetics and Experimental Patholgogy.
Beth-Ann Saul, lab quality assurance manager for the Alliance, said all six labs were found to have no significant deficiencies. Also inspected and accredited was the Point of Care Testing Program, initiated in February, which includes laboratory tests performed in the patient care area by personnel other than laboratory staff.
The goal of the CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program is to improve the quality of clinical laboratory services through voluntary participation, professional peer review, education and compliance with established performance standards.
Upon successful completion of the inspection process, the laboratory joins more than 6,000 labs worldwide that have CAP accreditation.
International histocompatibility congress meets in Seattle
Center scientists helped coordinate and took part in the 13th International Congress of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, held in Seattle May 18-22.
Dr. John Hansen chairs the International Histocompatibility Working Group, the organization of researchers that hosted the event. The group is dedicated to research on the genes of the major histocompatibility complex that specify tissue type and are crucial to an array of immune system functions.
Highlights included a keynote address by Dr. Lee Hartwell, center president and director, and a special symposium on hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation that was dedicated to transplant pioneer Dr. E. Donnall Thomas, director emeritus of the Clinical Research Division.
